Theory and Methods- Modernity and Postmodernity

Question 1

What does modernity refer to?

Answer 1

The industrial world that began to emerge in Western Europe in the late 18th century

Question 2

What did modernity bring about? (3 points)

Answer 2

Mass production
Urbanisation
State bureaucracy

Question 3

What is thinking like in modernity? (3 points)

Answer 3

Ordered, rational and scientific

Question 4

What was seen as the answer in modernity?

Answer 4

Science rather than religion

Question 5

What do modernist sociological theories aim to do?

Answer 5

To investigate the world scientifically and explain why societies have evolved to be the way they are, and why they’re arranged in the way they are

Question 6

What are modernist theories?

Answer 6

Structuralist theories such as Marxism and functionalism

Question 7

What are modernist theories also called?

Answer 7

Metanarratives (stories that make sense of other stories)

Question 8

What are metanarratives?

Answer 8

Big, all-encompassing theories that try to find certain answers to questions

Question 9

What do modernist theories like Marxism claim?

Answer 9

A monopoly of truth

Question 10

What do postmodernists argue?

Answer 10

Society has progressed from modernity

Question 11

How has work changed according to postmodernists?

Answer 11

Work has become more flexible and service industries have partly taken over from manufacturing industries

Question 12

How has consumption changed according to postmodernists?

Answer 12

There’s an emphasis on consumption of cultural products

Question 13

How have culture and roles changed according to postmodernists?

Answer 13

There’s a pluralism of culture and roles- people interpret society and their own identities in different ways according to the circumstances they’re in

Question 14

How has globalisation caused a change in society according to postmodernists?

Answer 14

It has affected both production and communication which has made boundaries between states less important

Question 15

What are the three ways that globalisation has changed society?

Answer 15

• Globalisation of consumption and culture
• Technology has improved communication between countries
• A more global economy with many transnational corperations

Question 16

What do postmodernists argue about how sociology has moved?

Answer 16

Sociology has moved into a time when metanarratives can’t answer all the questions about the social world

Question 17

What do postmodernists say about theories in today’s society?

Answer 17

There’s a whole range of competing theories out there which all have something to say about society

Question 18

Why do postmodernists argue that there are many theories?

Answer 18

No one theory can claim a monopoly of the truth

Question 19

What is a relativist approach?

Answer 19

All versions of the truth are true for the people who believe in them

Question 20

What does Lyotard argue?

Answer 20

Sociology moving to a new time has important consequences for our understanding of language as instead of one overall language of words and their set meanings, there is just a series of ‘language games’

Question 21

What does language games mean?

Answer 21

The meaning of a word depends on the way someone uses it

Question 22

What does Baudrillard say about postmodern society?

Answer 22

Postmodern society is more about consumption than production

Question 23

What does Baudrillard focus on?

Answer 23

How we consume signs

Question 24

Why does Baudrillard argue that signs don’t relate to real things in postmodern society?

Answer 24

Because we have no agreed definition of what is real any more- we consume these signs (‘simulacra’) even though they’re actually meaningless

Question 25

What is ‘hyper-reality’ according to Baudrillard?

Answer 25

A complete inability to tell what is real from what is not, so that the simulacra take over from reality

Question 26

How is Baudrillard criticise the media?

Answer 26

He says that television is one of the main causes of hyper-reality, confusing what is real with representations of reality

Question 27

Why does Baudrillard say that we’ve lost our ability to improve society?

Answer 27

As we’ve lost our ability to tell what’s real

Question 28

Why is postmodernism criticised for emphasising the role of culture and media in driving the creation of identities, norms and values?

Answer 28

People no longer seek one answer to life but are happy to pick and choose values and identities

Question 29

How do action theorists criticise postmodernism?

Answer 29

For largely ignoring the interactions between individuals

Question 30

How do structuralists criticise postmodernism?

Answer 30

For ignoring the relationships between social institutions

Question 31

How do Marxists criticise postmodernism?

Answer 31

For ignoring inequalities

Question 32

How does Harvey criticise Baudrillard?

Answer 32

Argues that Baudrillard is too pessimistic about our inability to change society for the better

Question 33

How is postmodernism criticised for theories appearing to contradict themselves?

Answer 33

Postmodernists claim that no one theory can claim a monopoly of truth, so postmodernist theories surely can’t do that either

Question 34

What does Giddens argue?

Answer 34

We’re actually in a state of ‘late modernity’

Question 35

What is late modernity?

Answer 35

A continuation of modernity, not a break from it

Question 36

How are changes to work, consumption and culture accelerated in late modernity according to Giddens?

Answer 36

Reflexivity and disembedding

Question 37

What is reflexivity?

Answer 37

We constantly reflect upon ourselves and our actions and modify them accordingly

Question 38

What is disembedding?

Answer 38

We interact with one another without meeting face to face

Question 39

How is late modernity a state with high risks?

Answer 39

Of war, economic collapse or environmental disaster

Question 40

What is a juggernaut?

Answer 40

A massive force which we can collectively try to direct but which could go out of control

Question 41

How does Giddens disagree with postmodernists about our ability to solve problems?

Answer 41

He believes we are capable of rational thinking which we can use to make plans and reduce risks

Question 42

What does Beck believe?

Answer 42

We are becoming more individualised and therefore becoming even more reflexive as we have to take more responsibility for our own actions and their consequences

Question 43

What is risk-consciousness?

Answer 43

We seek to minimise the risk of bad consequences

Question 44

How can society be improved according to Beck?

Answer 44

Because we can minimise risks on a political scale